Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (SFDK) Discussion Thread

[singemfrc]

I heard the Kong trains are back on the track and are reportedly not being altered at all for the VR. If true, this will end badly...probably with an injury lawsuit.

 

If that is indeed true, then I can see the ride becoming even less popular with the general public, who for some reason think it's worth waiting 80 minutes for.

Yeah SFDK just confirmed it on their Facebook page showing video of riders in the original cars/restraints with the headset. This is going to be terrible.

 

The silver lining I guess is that I think you're right that the popularity will fade even further, which may bring about Kong's imminent removal for something better. I also really wouldn't be surprised if someone really did get hurt (concussion, whiplash, etc) and go after the park. Even Vekoma has to be shaking their heads at this one (no pun intended lol).

 

I wonder if part of the VR experience will be getting hit in the head so it will seem super realistic.

[JGuy]

I'm curious if they'll still be running this with VR one year from now. Obviously, people will line up for VR this season out of curiosity. But what about after they've tried it and most likely hate it? I agree with the person above and hope that this will be what pushes them to replace Kong. Hopefully something other than a Free Spin. (That can be placed elsewhere without Kong's removal)

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

I think you guys are wayyy over-exaggerating this. No one is going to get hurt and sue just because they have something over their eyes if Kong hasn't done it so far. Plus, no one is forcing them to wear VR, so if they get hurt because of the VR, they can only blame themselves. Also, Kong really isn't that rough compared to some other SLCs, and if I recall correctly, there's another coaster getting VR that's also a notoriously rough coaster. People will like Kong better with the VR. I'd be surprised if it didn't make Kong more popular.

[singemfrc]

I think you guys are wayyy over-exaggerating this. No one is going to get hurt and sue just because they have something over their eyes if Kong hasn't done it so far. Plus, no one is forcing them to wear VR, so if they get hurt because of the VR, they can only blame themselves. Also, Kong really isn't that rough compared to some other SLCs, and if I recall correctly, there's another coaster getting VR that's also a notoriously rough coaster. People will like Kong better with the VR. I'd be surprised if it didn't make Kong more popular.

The reason I think someone might get hurt is because with their eyes covered, they won't have any way of seeing when a turn or inversion is coming or be able to brace themselves. You get hurt much easier when you're "rag dolling" instead of bracing. I don't think EVERYONE is going to get hurt, but I think it will inevitably happen to someone.

 

I'm probably going on Sunday for the ERT, and I think I will brave it with the VR at least once and report back.

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

^I'm pretty sure most of the GP don't brace anyway, and eye covering wouldn't make you go ragdoll if you weren't before. I'm not saying it's impossible to get hurt on Kong, but I just don't see that the VR is going to suddenly cause some horrific injury because the person couldn't see the track in front of them.

[JGuy]

Exaggeration is fun, though.

Anyway, the VR's awful dispatch time is definitely going to ruin the ride for some people. I'll probably never ride it again after initially trying out the VR unless they have a separate single rider line without it.

[singemfrc]

This is interesting. From a distance the restraints don't look modified at all, I'll be interested to try it out tomorrow and see if they really are different at all.

[Mossed]

Hey guys, never been to this park and I don't have a lot of time when I go (October 28th). Are the Halloweekends crowds crazy, and is there any chance I'd be able to get on everything in 4 hours?! If not, I need some must rides. There's one attraction in particular I'm excited about, but I know very little about the park in general.

[singemfrc]

Hey guys, never been to this park and I don't have a lot of time when I go (October 28th). Are the Halloweekends crowds crazy, and is there any chance I'd be able to get on everything in 4 hours?! If not, I need some must rides. There's one attraction in particular I'm excited about, but I know very little about the park in general.

For Fright Fest, it gets busier the later in the day it gets and the closer to Halloween it gets. Friday the 28th will be a busy day, but probably a lot less busy than Saturday the 29th which will probably be the busiest.

 

If you're just concerned with coasters, make sure to get there at park opening and you should be able to get them done by 8pm. Head straight for Joker first, then do Superman, V2, Kong, Medusa.

If you're doing them at all for the credits, leave Cobra and Boomerang till last. Keep your mind (and wallet) open to the possibility of buying a Flash Pass. That will be a pretty busy weekend, so it might come in handy.

[Mossed]

If you're just concerned with coasters, make sure to get there at park opening and you should be able to get them done by 8pm. Head straight for Joker first, then do Superman, V2, Kong, Medusa.

If you're doing them at all for the credits, leave Cobra and Boomerang till last. Keep your mind (and wallet) open to the possibility of buying a Flash Pass. That will be a pretty busy weekend, so it might come in handy.

 

Not sure exactly what time I'll get there. Hopefully at opening, likely a little later. I won't be doing any mazes and I'll likely avoid any VR rides due to the slow loading process. Flash pass sadly won't happen, either.

 

Thanks for the quick response and advice! Wish I had more time at the park.

 

This will also make my third RMC, can't wait to see how it compares to Twisted Colossus and Goliath.

Edited September 24, 2016 by Mossed

[singemfrc]

If you're just concerned with coasters, make sure to get there at park opening and you should be able to get them done by 8pm. Head straight for Joker first, then do Superman, V2, Kong, Medusa.

If you're doing them at all for the credits, leave Cobra and Boomerang till last. Keep your mind (and wallet) open to the possibility of buying a Flash Pass. That will be a pretty busy weekend, so it might come in handy.

 

Not sure exactly what time I'll get there. Hopefully at opening, likely a little later. I won't be doing any mazes and I'll likely avoid any VR rides due to the slow loading process. Flash pass sadly won't happen, either.

 

Thanks for the quick response and advice! Wish I had more time at the park.

Actually if you ride Kong (The VR ride) but ride without VR, you'll be loaded quicker.

[JGuy]

This is interesting. From a distance the restraints don't look modified at all, I'll be interested to try it out tomorrow and see if they really are different at all.

 

They also don't look modified at all up close:

 

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[Fire2box]

so if I recall right haunted house passes were cheaper in 2015 then they are this year. https://www.sixflags.com/discoverykingdom/store/haunted-house-pass 30 dollars for the standard wristband and 40 for the VIP.

 

With them taking out slaughter house farms which was my favorite in 2015. I really don't know if it's worth it to me. Carnevil, the boathouse and shipyard of the dead have never been that good IMHO. there's one new haunt this year an asylum themed haunt and it's all the way towards the back of the park far removed from the others. It would be soly up to it and nightmare manor to make it worth it at all IMHO.

 

 

Checked magic mountains site and its 15 and 30 dollars there for wristband and VIP wristbands.

[cwf_777]

Just got back from the park, mainly to try VR Kong (never tried a VR coaster before). Single worst experience I have ever had at any theme park. It didn't feel like they have done anything to the track at all. Doesn't matter what they tell you, those restraints weren't changed from the last time I rode it. Long loading times (obviously) and so much pain. Me and at least 5 others on the train had headsets nearly fall off during the ride from so much head banging. The only silver lining is that Kong isn't that good of a coaster to begin with, so it won't be missed.

[JGuy]

The only silver lining is that Kong isn't that good of a coaster to begin with, so it won't be missed.

 

Maybe corporate instructed the park management that they needed to shoehorn VR onto a ride in order to satisfy their deal with Samsung. Knowing that Medusa and Joker get too many people to acceptably operate with VR, they instead opted for Kong so fewer people would be angered.

...

Or, they're simply betting on how easily fooled most people are.

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

^^$30 for a wristband?? That's ridiculous!! SFDK FFest really isn't that good, why would they bump up the price and remove Haunts? IIRC I don't even know if Boathouse is even back, and Pig Farms was the best that is now gone. They stopped doing the one at Whitewater. The wristband was like $25 last year I believe and I think the park was only open till like 10 so we barely got through each maze once. Come on SFDK, you can do better. We got tickets to Horror Nights for $35 last year. There will still be people who go but I think this will drive a lot away. I always felt Feight Fest had a lot of untapped potential if they invested more into it.

[singemfrc]

So much for sneaking in at Park opening, Intel has a huge group here for morning ERT in Sea and their group has access to the Kong ERT all day too

[singemfrc]

So much for sneaking in at Park opening, Intel has a huge group here for morning ERT in Sea and their group has access to the Kong ERT all day too

So the day ended up not so bad. Despite Intel having a pretty large group with morning ERT on V2/Joker/Superman, I was still able to sneak over and grab a quick walkon of Joker right at rope drop before heading over to Kong.

 

Kong ERT was not only for Season Pass Holders, but also anyone with a Samsung phone and anyone with an Intel ERT wristband - so quite a few people. Despite that, however, they were limiting the ride to about 160 PPH by using kind of a poor man's (old style) Disney Fast Pass system. They handed out about 40 of these tickets for each 15 minute period:

 

 

Only the orange train was running. Yellow train still presumably in pieces. My first lap was with the VR headset. The VR program is actually kind of fun for the portion that takes place during the lift hill. You can move your head to aim and tap on the right side of the gear headset to fire, and there are a lot of available targets.

 

Once the ride crests the hill, however, the game changes to "missles" mode and you're supposed to just look at a monster and the software will automatically fire missles at it. Realistically though, once this happens not too many people were even worrying about playing the game anymore..for me it was kind of like just riding with my eyes closed. In row 4 it wasn't terribly painful, but it was uncomfortable..the headset was repeatedly slamming into the restraints. Unlike the smooth ride on Revolution down at SFMM, these phones are taking a serious beating. A manager who was supervising the ERT claimed that the park actually paid full retail price for each of the Galaxy S7 phones. If that's true, ouch.

 

They were asking everyone whether they preferred the VR version or the regular Kong, I voted for regular Kong. I went around for another lap however, to ride without the VR, and ended up in the last row. Full on Vekoma mode, that last row was all kinds of pain. Amazing that you can have such a varying experience just a few rows away on the same train.

 

Also - I don't usually take the parking lot bus, but I was tired today and it was hot so I figured the A/C would be nice but big disappointment that there was no A/C on the bus on this hot day.

[skaunit]

Can anyone offer some good crowd predictions for daytime ops, between now and nov. 6th? I need to take the family (myself, wife, 4 year old, and almost 2 year old) to process our membership passes before November 6th, and am thinking about this coming Sunday. I noticed though they aren't open until 12 on Sunday's though, kind of a bummer. We'll probably only stay for 3-5 hours, I'm hoping to score a 15min wait on joker somehow or another... (Wife's not a coaster rider)

[scooterdoug]

Can anyone offer some good crowd predictions for daytime ops, between now and nov. 6th? I need to take the family (myself, wife, 4 year old, and almost 2 year old) to process our membership passes before November 6th, and am thinking about this coming Sunday. I noticed though they aren't open until 12 on Sunday's though, kind of a bummer. We'll probably only stay for 3-5 hours, I'm hoping to score a 15min wait on joker somehow or another... (Wife's not a coaster rider)

It can be tough to predict crowds. Still, this coming Sunday might be a good bet (I plan on going then). The weather is forecasted (thus far) to be cooler. Encouragingly, there are no special events planned for that day, and it's not a bring a friend free day. The next two Sundays after are cheer leading competition days, which I avoid. Also, the closer it gets to Halloween, the more crowded it gets. Really, it won't start getting really dead crowd-wise until early November. So, between now and then, this coming Sunday is as good a bet as any. Good luck.

[singemfrc]

I'm hoping to score a 15min wait on joker somehow or another... (Wife's not a coaster rider)

Just head straight for Joker when the park opens and you should accomplish that no problem.

[JGuy]

I wonder how many people will opt out of Fright Fest this year due to the price increase. Now that the prices are closer to their main competition, I can't imagine many people picking Six Flags' less-than-stellar event if they could reach either park in the Bay Area.

[Fire2box]

^^$30 for a wristband?? That's ridiculous!! SFDK FFest really isn't that good, why would they bump up the price and remove Haunts? IIRC I don't even know if Boathouse is even back, and Pig Farms was the best that is now gone. They stopped doing the one at Whitewater. The wristband was like $25 last year I believe and I think the park was only open till like 10 so we barely got through each maze once. Come on SFDK, you can do better. We got tickets to Horror Nights for $35 last year. There will still be people who go but I think this will drive a lot away. I always felt Feight Fest had a lot of untapped potential if they invested more into it.

 

The White Water one was the nearest thing to a maze we'll ever see at the park too. I tried it during the 2014 season and that was the last time they did it. I had to be told twice which direction to go since either there were few signs or they were turned around or simply on the floor as they were paper held by tacks into the plyboards.

 

Still not as good as the salughterhouse farm. I always had a good time on that one that I went trough it 2-3 times each year.

[CrazedZooChimp]

Only the orange train was running. Yellow train still presumably in pieces. My first lap was with the VR headset. The VR program is actually kind of fun for the portion that takes place during the lift hill. You can move your head to aim and tap on the right side of the gear headset to fire, and there are a lot of available targets.

 

Once the ride crests the hill, however, the game changes to "missles" mode and you're supposed to just look at a monster and the software will automatically fire missles at it. Realistically though, once this happens not too many people were even worrying about playing the game anymore..for me it was kind of like just riding with my eyes closed. In row 4 it wasn't terribly painful, but it was uncomfortable..the headset was repeatedly slamming into the restraints. Unlike the smooth ride on Revolution down at SFMM, these phones are taking a serious beating. A manager who was supervising the ERT claimed that the park actually paid full retail price for each of the Galaxy S7 phones. If that's true, ouch.

 

They were asking everyone whether they preferred the VR version or the regular Kong, I voted for regular Kong. I went around for another lap however, to ride without the VR, and ended up in the last row. Full on Vekoma mode, that last row was all kinds of pain. Amazing that you can have such a varying experience just a few rows away on the same train.

 

Also - I don't usually take the parking lot bus, but I was tired today and it was hot so I figured the A/C would be nice but big disappointment that there was no A/C on the bus on this hot day.

 

I talked to Charles Laureano, the maintenance supervisor for the park, about this at the media preview, and he said the yellow train should be ready in a week or two. Glad to see them doing the poor man's fastpass, it's at least a partial solution to the operations of the VR. Hope they keep it up (and New Revolution should do that).

 

I wrote up my full thoughts on it at Coaster101, but in general I think I agree with you. I maybe didn't find it as bad towards the middle/front as you did, but yeah, the back row sucked. I only rode in the front without the VR, and it was actually quite smooth up there, crazy big difference. For the most part in the middle I didn't find it too bad, but it was definitely hard to actually "lock on" to any of the gargoyles with your head shaking around, but that would have happened even if it were smooth just with the number of quick twists in Kong.

 

My summary would be it moved Kong from "unrideable" to "ride once per visit near the front" quality. I did like the full interactive VR as compared to New Revolution, but think it's better on slower, less intense, rides.

[jh5292]

The lines for SFDK on coasterqueue.com today seemed pretty long. Was anyone at the park today to confirm how busy it was?

 

I was at CA Great America and the place was a ghost land! Was hoping for at least a semi slow day tomorrow for my visit to SFDK.

 

Also, can anyone confirm that the Flash Pass is only good for one reservation on Joker for the entire day? The website says " single ride reservation" but doesn't give any details.